Blogs from Mount Vesuvius, Campania, Italy, Europe

Today is an important day - we've booked a tour to climb Mount Vesuvius, which is the first of the three volcanoes we plan to scale on this trip. I've been keeping a close eye on the mountain from our balcony since we arrived. I haven't seen any smoke or noticed any earthquakes, so hopefully it should be safe to climb today. Issy's still feeling the after effects of her seasickness tablets so she tells me that she won't be joining me, and will instead spend the day by the pool. I hope that she hasn't heard something about an impending eruption that she's not telling me about. Our guide introduces herself as Rafaela. She tells us that people from the south of Italy have a reputation for being lazy, and that this applies to every ... read more

Day 3 of the Napoli trip we went to Mount Vesuvius (the ACTIVE volcano that is responsible for destroying Pompeii and herculaneum). Knowing it would be colder than normal, since we would be ontop of a mountain, i layered on what clothes i did have--leggings under my jeans, 2 pairs of socks, and a tshirt under my spring sweater and my northface. The bus was quite long. it was at least an hour, circling up a mountain. which, to anyone who knows me, kind of blows.t he entire process of going up in some kind of moving object freaks the crap out of me. especially in buses that seem WAYYYY to big to be allowed on the road. Before we really started going up the mountain, we made a short detour, and while we sat for ... read more

So, after spending a day in the playground of the rich and famous - Capri, we had a day today seeing the sights in Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius. Pompeii itself is pretty shabby. The property has no value, and can’t be sold, because of the volcano, and as an outer suburb of Naples these days, it’s pretty rough. We jumped straight on the bus to go up the volcano from the train station. What a ride. Typical narrow Italian roads barely big enough for one way, yet designated as two way. Our bus driver spotted a mate driving a bus from the same company halfway up the mountain - so they played chicken with us on board, then pulled up and had a laugh about it and a chat for about 5 minutes - all whilst ... read more

Well, I have climbed Mount Vesuvius. And I won't lie, I feel pretty cool saying that. The volcano is the only volcano on mainland Europe to have erupted in the last century, and owes most of its fame for the destruction of the cities Pompeii and Herculaneum back in 79 AD. But don't worry, according to its main website: the Park is closed while Vesuvius is erupting. Like most people I assume, I have never climbed a volcano, have never looked inside a volcano, have never seen a volcano erupt. A met a girl later on who, upon telling her I went to the top of Mount Vesuvius, asked if I got to look inside and see the lava bubbling up in the pit of the volcano. I tried hard not laugh at that, but I'll ... read more